According to a nationally-recognized newspaper, Kentucky Wildcats 2012 basketball signee Nerlens Noel was visited at his high school in Everett, Massachusetts by two National Collegiate Athletic Association investigators interested in his recruiting process.

NCAA investigators Cindi Merrell and Frank Smith visited Noel at Everett High School for an hour, and the conversation was evidently very professional, dealt primarily with the adults Noel surrounds himself with, and also with whom he will continue to be in contact when he makes the move from Everett to Lexington this fall to be the centerpiece of the Kentucky Wildcats’ run toward a second-straight basketball national championship.

Some of the topics of the conversation included Noel’s relationship to a Providence University assistant coach named Chris Driscoll, who is thought to be close to Noel, and also the young man’s relationship with Errol Randolph, a substitute teacher on occasion at Everett who is present on Noel’s “list of advisors”.

It’s being rumored Randolph has ties to certain agencies, including one run by prominent basketball agent Andy Miller, but no link has been proven to this point.

Obviously, there is plenty of investigation left to be conducted here, but it is rather interesting relationships which Noel had prior to his signing with Kentucky are being studied so closely even after he has made his collegiate decision.

Is it possible that the Providence staff did something impermissible in its recruitment of Noel, and there is more to Errol Randolph than meets the eye?

It certainly would be far-fetched to suggest that Kentucky is in any way a part of the NCAA’s concern in regards to Mr. Noel until news is released that would tell us otherwise.

Regardless, it is definitely a unwelcome distraction not only for Nerlens Noel, but his family, John Calipari, and the Kentucky basketball program that sees him as their next great NBA-caliber talent.

These types of distractions follow the best players.

It’s the status quo anymore, rather than the exception to the rule, and a true sign of our times.